


Water's Run

by Aariah



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/F, M/M, and victor doesn't know what he is getting himself into, in which yuuri is abhorsen in waiting, rest assured none of the pairings are background. be ready for the whirlwind lesbian romance ok, so reverse necromancy and dead things., subtle homophobia bc the south is backwards in a lot of ways, this is essentially an old kingdom au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 17:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14169474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aariah/pseuds/Aariah
Summary: Victor found the papers when he was going through his late father's estate. Those papers led him North, past the Wall into the Old Kingdom that few ever visited. He didn't believe Yuri when he told him dead things didn't stay dead. He probably should have.Yuuri is the Abhorsen in Waiting, having finished his schooling south of the Wall he's fulfilling his role and assisting the Abhorsen in her duties, mainly ensuring that the Dead stay Dead.Sara is a noblewoman in the elderly King's court, which was just spun into a flurry by the arrival of the woman from the North.Perhaps these things will make sense later.(This is an old kingdom au, but you don't need to have read the book series.)





	Water's Run

_"So, what you're trying to tell me Yura, is that the Old Kingdom has magic and dead things don't stay dead." Victor asks pointedly._

_"Well duh, why do you think I'm following your stupid ass?" Yuri really was convinced this was a terrible, terrible idea._

 

Victor hadn't really believed him, when Yuri had told him as much. But now, at the perimeter manned with soldiers and not a gun in sight? He'd seen a few earlier, when they had gotten off the bus. But now, there were only swords, shields and outdated armor. Perhaps there was something to this. The other side of the border featured rolling storm clouds and the occasional flash of lightning. Which was odd, because the sun on the southern side was bright and you could practically see the line between the two.

"I told you. You really don't know what you're getting into." Yuri stares sourly at the clouds, hands digging to find the papers the soldiers were asking for. Victor hadn't even known he'd had them in the first place. But then again, citizens of the mysterious kingdom across the border never did really advertise that they existed.

  Yuri was dressed much differently than usual, natural fibers if Victor was to guess (and based of Yuri's pestering that he wear similar he was figuring his assessment to be pretty spot on.)

"Get your papers out idiot!" Yuri bites out, in a way that had Victor scrambling for said documentation.

"So, you two are headed across the border?" The Colonel asked, peering at parchment and nodding to himself.

"Correct sir." Victor is the one who answers, Yuri simply scowls.

"Yuri, it's nice to see you again boy, it's been a couple years now hasn't it? How is your Grandfather doing?" The Colonel's face softens some.

"I'm not a child! And I guess he's doing okay, he's still up in the capital." Yuri was predictable, bristling at any mention of his youth. But the truth was, he was young- just bordering on 17.

"Keep watch on this one won't you, he doesn't have a Charter mark does he?" The term throws Victor for a loop, what exactly was this mark he was speaking of?

"Why do you think I'm following him? He's gonna have to get baptized if he's gonna spend much time over there." The bitterness creeps into Yuri's voice, Victor still didn't understand what the huge deal was and the Colonel starts laughing which really does cement the rather bad mood that all the not knowing things had inserted into his day.

"Well, are we okay to cross?" He asks sharply.

"Yes, best get along before it gets too dark. Do you have a destination in mind?" The Colonel asks.

"He doesn't. I was just going to drag him up to Belisaere." Yuri replies.

Victor is still in the dark about it all. He really just wants to get on with it at this point. Yuri's answer seems to have been enough for the Colonel, because at that point he stops asking questions and sends them on their way.

 

  Death had called to him since he was a child. Games were dramatic reenactments, eyes closing slowly and bodies collapsing onto the floor.

 His mother had took in stride, her sister Minako had done much the same as a child. There was only so much to be expected from a family with death written into blood and silver keys. It took till Yuuri was ten, home from the fancy boarding school across the Wall and relishing in the entirety of the Charter for the bells to come.

  Death was a place, a river that ended in the stars beyond the Ninth Gate where there was no return. The thing about Death though, is that you could always feel the way back to Life within it, and not everything wanted to stay dead.

 Perhaps that is why the Abhorsen came to exist, why it was seen as a necessity when the Charter was formed so long ago. Who else would coax the Dead back into Death?

When Yuuri was ten the bells found their way into his hands and Minako handed him the Book of the Dead, to start studying of course. Because the Book of the Dead was ever changing and one couldn't ever know it in its entirety.

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?

Sometimes, it was both.

Sometimes, it was the itch to go into Death, to understand. To take out the bells and ring them, knowing what each separate sound would do- the bells have a life of their own however. For they could so easily hurl you further into Death till you were lost.

But sometimes, it was the fact that power ran through his family's blood. And perhaps that was all it took.

 

"Yuuri, I've heard reports of Dead near the Wall. Wanna take care of that for me?" Minako asks him, he still couldn't think of her as Abhorsen, though she's been middle of everything since before he was born. (Before Mari was born even.)

"Uh, sure? It's not one of the Greater Dead is it?" The last time Minako sent him on one of her errands it had ended up being a necromancer who clung to life way past their time. It was all Yuuri could do to bind it past the 7th gate- and Minako had simply nodded at the ordeal.

 She was a rather careless teacher. But, to be fair- despite the new scars he had been able to handle it.

"It shouldn't be, you can always send word via hawk once you get to the House if it proves too much for you." The tone in her voice told him that she would be rather disappointed if it did prove too much, and it better be damn important if she ended up having to go all the way down to the Borderlands.

Yuuri simply nodded, and made a mental note to start packing.

 

She came from the North, full of fire and spirit that spurred the court into a flurry. Sara could only watch her from afar, hiding behind her brother. The streak of red hair in a sea of muted browns and blondes and the way her blue eyes would flash whenever she laughed.

  Something settled heavily in the pit of Sara's stomach. It was unfamiliar, slightly unpleasant and she felt like her twin could sense it which just made the entire situation even more awkward. She couldn't decide if she wanted the woman to ignore her existence entirely or to walk up and talk to her. So she hid behind Mickey, and Mickey let her hide.

 It takes a week for Sara to learn why exactly she was here, and even her name. Mila, it felt odd on the tongue, and the pit that kept settling into her grew heavier and heavier. She specialized in the binding of free magic creatures, and she was good at it.

Which begged the question, why was she in the court of an ailing King in the first place?

 

He'd come down with the expectation that it would be clean cut and done. Send the Dead off into death, Kibeth ringing at their heels and urging them onwards. Yuuri should know it was never simple by now, not when it came to Mordicants. Mordicants required Necromancers in order to become what they were.

  And that was definitely a Mordicant  stalking the edge of the bank. And a quick glance told Yuuri what prey it was stalking. Two sopping wet men, one bleeding and the other full of fury.

  There was no helping it, Astarael came to his hands. He'd have to deal with it properly later, but for now at least he could send the Dead back into Death. Then at least, it'd give him a chance to figure out what exactly was going on here.

 

 

 Yuri knew something was following them the moment they crossed the border. That's what urged him on, though Victor wasn't inclined to actually listen to him. Which led to this situation, being chased by a Dead thing and trying to drag your friend through mud and lightning to the nearest body of water.

  Rain wasn't much good when it came to building fires.

The rhyme he learned as a child echos through his head as he pulls Victor along.

_When the Dead do walk, seek water’s run,_   
_For this the Dead will always shun._   
_Swift river’s best or broadest lake_   
_To ward the Dead and haven make._   
_If water fails thee, fire’s thy friend;_   
_If neither guards, it will be thy end._

He only realizes he's saying it aloud when Victor looks at him oddly, the unfamiliar look of fear coloring his features.

"This is why I was warning you. We have a fucking Dead thing following us and I'm blaming you." He doesn't bother keeping the irritation from his voice. Fuck, he was irritated. He was irritated that Victor found his fucking passport and insisting on visiting a homeland he'd didn't know the first thing about.

"Where are we going?" Victor asks quietly, finally beginning to understand the gravity of the situation.

"Where do you think? Running water. Preferably the Ratterlin, but that's a bit off. Anything with fast water, keep your eyes forward and move!"

This pushes Victor into moving faster, and keeping his mouth shut. This was a situation that Yuri could accept for now. He was just hoping they made it in time, he knew a bit of Charter magic but not nearly enough to help them.

He tries to keep his mind off the fact that there was something stalking them, it was the sort of thing you could feel. A chill on the back of the neck, the birds too quiet and not a soul to be seen. There, water. Hopefully, hopefully it'd be enough.

 They made it, just barely. Victor of course managed to trip on the river rocks, sending blood trickling down in the current. Yuri keeps dragging him through the water, thigh high and hopefully swift enough to give the creature pause.

  Victor just knew he really really just messed up his ankle. And that perhaps Yuri was right in the fact that him rushing up here was perhaps a bad idea. Because as soon as Yuri drags him up the rocks in the middle of the river a thing makes its appearance on the bank they had just left.

  It obviously wasn't alive, perhaps it had been human at some point but the eyes burned with an odd fire that left him feeling cold and terrified.

 "Do you understand now Victor?" He can practically taste the fury in Yuri's voice. He makes a note to thank him profusely if they actually make it out of this situation.

  They'd been there for a hour, perched on scant rocks. Victor's ankle sending ripples of pain when he moved (it was difficult not to, he was sopping wet and cold) and Yuri's fury seems to have just grown. That's when a man walks up, clad in armor.

 "Thank fuck." Yuri's voice conveys a relief that Victor isn't sure that he should be sharing.

But a moment later, he hears the call of a bell and the Dead thing fades. The man wades through the river to them, and the moment Victor gets a clear look at his face he knows he's gone. He's afraid of the emotion that settles into his stomach, so he covers it with the fact that his ankle hurts and he's probably going to get hypothermia if he doesn't warm up soon.

  “May I ask why exactly you had a Mordicant following you?” The man asks, and Yuri pales even further.

 “You’re joking. You’re fucking joking that wasn’t a Mordicant. You’re not a necromancer right?” For a moment Yuri looks his age, terrified and exhausted. The fury seems to finally have run out.

 The man laughs, and Victor hangs on to the sound. “No. I’m the Abhorsen in Waiting. You two are very, very lucky. Which one of you is injured?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still working on Towers Full of Sky don't worry.  
> I was just hit by an idea and had to deliver.  
> If you want updates on progress my tumblr is spiraloforigins
> 
> Thank you for reading! And stay tuned!!!


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